Tobacco can come in a bunch of configurations. I would say that the pack effects the flavor for me, and you'll see this with others that prefer to rub out flakes/coins/rope. If you simply fold and pack a flake, you are dealing with a very dense pack of tobacco, in a different way then if you simply tamped the heck out of ribbon cut in the bowl. There are probably as many thoughts on this as there are smokers, and there is a simple solution. Try flakes in a variety of packing techniques, and find what works for you. All tobacco can be broken all the way down to crumble/small cut that will allow you to follow your standard packing technique. Coins and Flakes can folded and packed or rubbed out. Plugs can be cut into slices then packed similar to flakes or rubbed out. Rope can be treated like coins or rubbed out. And this goes on. Experiment and enjoy!